Floor coverings are generally selected based upon a combination of factors including aesthetic features such as the look and feel of the floor covering and functional qualities such as retention of surface appearance, stain resistance, moisture resistance, ease of cleaning, and resistance to collection of dirt. For example, floor covering installations in high traffic areas or areas prone to moisture and stains such as kitchens generally use solid surface cover materials for the flooring or interior wall coverings such as wood, metal, marble, ceramic tile, vinyl or rubber. These products retain their surface appearance after heavy use and they are simple to keep clean. They also are resistant to stains and moisture, and less prone to harboring bacterial growth. However, these products lack the textile hand, softness or sound dampening qualities of textile products.
In installations where aesthetic qualities such as texture and softness are desired, products such as tufted, knit, knotted or woven structures, including velour or velvet are used. These products provide softness and cushion, a soft textile hand and a degree of abrasion and wear resistance. Compared to rigid solid surfaced products, however, these floor coverings are less durable, tend to lose their texture with heavy use, because the pile tends to mat or to be crushed with heavy traffic, tend to collect dust and dirt, provide spaces that allow the growth of bacteria, and are difficult to clean and sanitize.
Attempts have been made to create products having both the desired functional qualities of solid surface materials and the aesthetic qualities of textile or fabric materials. For example, hybrid structures with partially fibrous and partially solid faces are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,018. These hybrid structures, however, merely reduce but do not eliminate the limitations of regular tufted, velour, or flocked textile surfaces.
Other attempts provide flat or profiled, e.g., sculpted, surfaces containing fibrous layers impregnated with a plastic matrix. Examples of fibrous layers impregnated with a plastic matrix are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,035,215, 4,098,629, and 6,063,473. These floor coverings generally have surfaces with a semi-fibrous feel, and the spaces between the fibers may be sufficiently sealed to prevent bacterial penetration and dirt collection. In addition, these floor coverings also provide a higher matting resistance than regular upright-oriented fiber structures. However, these floor covering products largely have a stiff leathery appearance rather than a soft textile feel, and the cost of preparing dimensionally-stable dense fibrous products, combined with the cost of impregnating and heat setting can be very high.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,469 discloses another technique to produce inexpensive, dirt and bacterial growth resistant, and abrasion resistant surface covering materials with a textile fiber appearance in which flat or textured film-like skins are placed on top of a pile-like surface. The resultant floor covering products combine the qualities of carpet with the solidity of vinyl or rubber, but lack the textile quality and aesthetics of carpets.
Other attempts assemble a basically flat textile fabric over a sublayer of adhesive backed with various layers of sub-surface reinforcement. For example, International Patent Publication No. WO 99/19557 discloses a woven face fabric backed by reinforcing layers, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,232 discloses a decorative fabric attached to dimensionally-stabilizing or cushioning layers. The fabric is further surface-stabilized. Laminates having a flat fabric face, however, tend to delaminate or fray at the edges unless the fabric is thoroughly impregnated with adhesives. Unfortunately, impregnation with adhesives adversely affects the textile feel and cushioning quality of the laminate.
Because of these shortcomings, the need remains to provide a surface covering material that combines the desirable properties of both solid surface coverings and textile-type coverings into a single product. Suitable surface coverings would have at least some of the desired properties of surface stability, edge fray resistance, thermal stability, structural stability, dimensional stability, dirt resistance, bacteria resistance, soft textile hand, cushioning, and appearance extending over a full spectrum of tufted, knit, non-woven, woven, velour and velvet products.